The short answer is... probably not!
Many vegetarians are pretty healthy people.
Vegetarians suffer lower rates of diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis,
heart disease and obesity.(1)
The healthiness of vegetarian foods
Vego foods are pretty healthy. They provide energy from carbohydrates,
as well as protein, vitamins and dietary fibre. They are the foods
which experts (even non-vego friendly ones) say should make up
most of our diet.(2)
In addition, many studies have shown that vegetarian foods have
a significant health benefits and that consuming these foods can
actually cut down the risk of disease. For example, eating pulses
like lentils and chickpeas has been linked to a reduced risk of
coronary disease. Tomatoes can assist in reducing cancer, including
prostate cancer, while eating nuts reduces the risk of heart attack
or heart disease.(3)
Certainly, studies are also often published which claim to demonstrate
the benefits of meat and other animal foods. However, that does
not mean those foods are necessary to our wellbeing - it
does not demonstrate that plant foods are not adequate. And if
we don't need to kill for meat, are we justified in doing so?
Such reports often omit to mention the plant foods which are
also sources of the nutrients which are mentioned in the study.
Issues like this can be complex (eg often the same nutrients are
found in different forms in different foods), while the results
are often presented in a simplistic way.
It's up to you to weight up the evidence and decide for yourself.
However, when considering the results of research, we suggest
that it can also be helpful to find out who the authors are, and
who paid them to do the research. If a study has been funded by
a meat industry body, for instance, it's likely to stress any
possible benefits of eating meat.
What about deficiencies?
Some people like to find any excuse to avoid going vego, and
there are lots of myths around about how vegetarians are short
on this or that.
The fact is, a well-balanced vegetarian diet contains everything
you need (nutritionally) to stay fit, healthy and strong.
For instance:
Naturally, diets which are not well balanced are likely to cause
problems. Too much of anything - even if it's a good thing - is
never ideal. Vegetarian diets, like non-vegetarian diets, are
not ipso facto necessarily balanced (you can live on nothing but
pasta, or nothing but hot chips, and still be vegetarian.) "Moderation
in all things" is a useful rule of thumb - dieticians recommend
that we all eat a wide variety of foods, and this applies to vegetarians
just like it does to everyone else.(7)
As long as you consume a balanced diet, B12 (a rather contraversial
little vitamin!) is the only element which is likely to require
special attention. Vegetarians who don't eat dairy products or
eggs can find an easily obtainable source of vitamin B12 in the
many B12-fortified foods commercially available.(8)
(Check the labels or see our online article, B12
- what every vego needs to know for more information.)
What about protein... can I get enough without eating
meat?
The short answer is Yes!
Protein is contained in grains, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and
legumes.(9)
Too much protein can be as unhealthy as too little - and most
Australians eat two to three times too much! (10)
* Of course, everybody's body is different, and you should
check with a health professional about any specific questions
or concerns you may have.
Just looking after number 1?
Sometimes people think that too much emphasis on one's own health
is selfish. Is the healthy side of vegetarianism just one more
way of focussing on "little old me"?
So-called "lifestyle diseases" like cancer,
heart disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and obesity are endemic
in Australia and are having a devastating effect on our society.(11)
For example, heart and cardiovascular disease (heart, stroke
and blood vessel disease) are Australia's biggest killer, accounting
for 38% of Australian deaths. Over 3 million Australians are affected
by cardiovascular disease, with over 1 million of them suffering
long-term cardiovascular disease.(12)
Nutritional factors, along with physical inactivity, are important
risk factors for chronic diseases including heart, stroke and
blood vessel disease, diabetes, cancer and kidney disease.(13)
In terms of the economic cost, the personal cost, and the cost
of resources, this is a burden we increasingly cannot bear. As
the Australian population ages, the costs associated with "lifestyle
diseases" - which are more likely to show up the older we
get, as the years of dietary and other problematic habits mount
up - will become more and more difficult for Australian society
to bear. Thus health prevention in Australia is becoming less
and less a luxury and increasingly a vital necessity.(14)
Vegetarians suffer lower rates of all the major "lifestyle
diseases" mentioned above. And this would seem to be stand
to reason, since the experts advise us to eat more fruit and vegetables,
grains and pulses (ie, vegetarian foods!), because these are high
in fibre, vitamins and minerals, while they warn us to limit our
consumption of nutritional elements like saturated fats and cholesterol
(which are typically found in high concentrations in meat and
other animal products).(15)
That's why vegetarianism is crucial to the future of Australia's
society and health system. Far from being a selfish way to
think, vegetarianism is a key element in creating a sustainable
future for everyone - not only for the environment and for
each of us as individuals, but for our society as well.
